Don’t give up the fight

I remember last year when the architect Frank Gehry (you either love him or hate him, but he is a force of nature) was asked what he thought of the music tent. His answer was,: “It is awful.”

I don’t believe he meant that the architecture was awful; Mr. Teague did a good job building what he was asked to do. Pretty place with lots of seats to maximize profit. Gehry was talking about the lack of intimacy. Intimacy is what we all look for in our relationships, our friends and our community.

As I look at Aspen now, it has failed to preserve this quality in almost every area of our community. A drive to the new hospital will literally scare you into not ever wanting to have to go there. The new art gallery signaled its approach to the community with a fake cadaver hanging over the lot before construction started. A fitting sign of what is to come.

Then there is the new airport terminal. The one place where new arrivals can get a feeling of the historic smallness and intimacy of Aspen is being offered up to the gods of greed and stupidity. I wish we had one investigative reporter in town because I believe tracking down the start of this project with the town manager, and her eventually leaving to join the forces of evil, will make an interesting tale of intrigue and collusion.

Anyway, after five years of working on the Aspen Area Community Plan, which a 5-year-old could have done in a month, Chris, from community development, had the gall to ask Aspenites to call in what they really wanted. The whole system has fallen apart, and someone managed to take away the cojones of the council members who knew the difference.

I guess what I am trying to say is, to those of you who know the difference, hang in there – miracles do happen.

Les Holst

Key West, Fla.

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